According to This Corporate Pride Parody, the Geico Gecko Is Bisexual

June 1st marks a monumental day in every young social media manager’s life. It’s a changing of the guard that sees familiar logos and branding overlaid with rainbows in honor of Pride Month. The act is always the center of contentious debates, leaving people wondering which of these companies are in it merely for a performative month-long cash grab and which actually have the vulnerable members of the LGBTQIA+ community in their best interests year-round. 

Within the last few months alone, we saw threats to Targets around the country for carrying inclusive swimwear and calls to boycott Bud Light after they teamed up with trans activist and internet sensation Dylan Mulvaney for an innocuous influencer campaign. 

With all this in mind, L.A.-based writer and comedian Luke Strickler took to TikTok to talk about how “some of the corporate sponsorship is a little weird.” He then cut to an anthropomorphic, insurance-shilling gecko donning his best leather daddy get-up, complete with a collar and mustache. “People think I’m just some gecko that sells insurance, but did you know I’m also bisexual? And for the month of Pride, Geico is letting the queer community get into as many car accidents they want free of charge,” the gecko informed viewers. “So serve cunt and run those red lights, queens.”

The TikTok served to show that although this was indeed a parody, the rainbow-washing and corporatization of Pride isn’t far off from such satire. The marketing execs pitching these ideas are still ill-informed on queer history, and their campaigns have led to some admittedly comical situations like Postmates’ now-infamous “bottom-friendly menu,” Lockheed Martin’s rainbow-emblazoned signs and a Texas-based organization loudly proclaiming that “Cracker Barrel has fallen” due to the restaurant’s Pride initiatives. 

Admittedly, not every brand can have a noted history of support like Levi’s and Gap, but as long as they’re armed with knowledge and committed to actionable allyship with substantial donations to queer organizations, there should be no harm in offering Pride Flag-emblazoned burritos — or turning their spokesreptile bisexual.